National

NEW YORK (AP) — Reaching a labor deal soon is hardly a done deal in the NFL.
Team owners will be updated on recent negotiations with the players when they meet in Chicago on Tuesday. They’ve been told to prepare to stay an extra day because of the complexity of the proposals both sides have discussed in sessions over the last three weeks.
Getting the required 24 of 32 owners to agree on anything can be difficult, let alone something as complex as a new collective bargaining agreement. And there has been enough pushback from owners that progress made recently might not lead to an agreement in the next few weeks.

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Rory McIlroy holed out from the fairway for eagle on the eighth hole at the U.S. Open to move to 10-under par, building a six-shot lead at the midway point of Friday's second round.

McIlroy's short approach hit the back of the green and bounced twice, then spun backward about 20 feet and dropped into the cup. He thrust both hands in the air and Phil Mickelson, playing in his threesome, applauded.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — While the Boston Bruins beelined across the ice to mob him at the buzzer, Tim Thomas tapped both goalposts, sank to his knees and rubbed the ice in front of his empty goal.
Thomas drew a virtual line in his crease throughout these crazy, contentious Stanley Cup finals, and Boston’s brilliant goalie just wouldn’t allow the Vancouver Canucks to cross it whenever it really mattered.
After 39 years without a championship, the Bruins ripped the Cup — and several thousand hearts — out of a Canadian city that has waited four decades itself for one sip.
Thomas was just too good and now the Cup is headed back to the Hub of Hockey.

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and several owners are meeting with NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith and a group of players for a second straight day in Maryland.
A person with knowledge of the talks tells The Associated Press that the negotiations have continued Wednesday and they include lawyers for both sides.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the meeting are not being made public.

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Bruins left their home ice for the final time in a jubilant line, waving and clapping back at the adoring Garden crowd. Tim Thomas returned for one last loop as the first star in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals, triumphantly waving his stick above his head.
With three blowout victories at home in the Stanley Cup finals, the Bruins picked a wonderful way to leave town for the last time this season.
Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference scored in the first 8:35 to chase Roberto Luongo from another game in Boston, and the Bruins sent the Stanley Cup finals to a decisive seventh game with a 5-2 victory over the Canucks on Monday night.

MIAMI (AP) — The season began with LeBron James taking his talents to South Beach.

It ended with Dirk Nowitzki taking the NBA championship trophy there for a late-night celebration.

Soaked in champagne in their locker room and spraying more around at a Miami Beach club hours later, the Dallas Mavericks not only added at least another year to James' wait for an NBA title, but they got to have the season's biggest — and final — party.

Jason Terry scored 27 points, Nowitzki scored 21 on his way to MVP honors, and the Mavs topped the Miami Heat 105-95 on Sunday night to win the NBA title in six games.

DALLAS (AP) — Dirk Nowitzki waited five long years for that elusive third victory over Miami, yet there was only a short celebration when it finally came.
He briefly thrust both arms in the air, a sea of blue screaming around him, but then quickly walked off the floor.
To Nowitzki, the real party can’t come until next week.
“There’s really nothing to celebrate,” he said. “We’re going in there Sunday swinging, like we did today, from the jump, and hopefully steal one Sunday.”
Nowitzki scored 29 points, driving for the go-ahead dunk with 2:45 remaining, and the Mavericks beat the Heat 112-103 on Thursday night to take a 3-2 series lead.

BOSTON (AP) — The tattered, kitschy Bruins jacket has been moving around the Boston locker room for the past few months, going to the most valuable player in every victory.
It belonged to Nathan Horton when he went down with a serious concussion two days earlier in the Stanley Cup finals. He showed up in the Bruins’ locker room Wednesday night, delighting his teammates by putting the jacket on Rich Peverley.
That strange, old jacket bought on eBay has become the Bruins’ most valuable trophy.
After two dominant games in Boston, the Bruins are halfway to winning a bigger, shinier prize.

DALLAS (AP) — Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks have pulled off another stunning comeback, tying the NBA finals at two games each.
And this time, Nowitzki did it while battling the flu.
Nowitzki shook off three poor quarters to score 10 of his 21 points in the final period as the Mavericks outscored the Miami Heat 21-9 over the final 10:12 for an 86-83 victory in a memorable Game 4 on Tuesday night.
The Mavs avoided going down 3-1, a deficit no team has ever overcome in the finals, and guaranteed the series will return to Miami for a Game 6 on Sunday night.
Game 5 is Thursday in Dallas.
“We just played with incredible heart and passion,” Dallas center Tyson Chandler said.

DALLAS (AP) — A chance for another championship ahead of him, Dwyane Wade refused to look back.
No, he said, he doesn’t consider that the Miami Heat should have a 3-0 lead in the NBA finals.
The margin is 2-1, close on the scoreboard even though it doesn’t feel that way on the floor. The Heat have repeatedly built double-digit cushions against the Dallas Mavericks, and a late collapse in Game 2 is all that’s keeping them from the lead that’s never been blown in an NBA series.
The Heat insist the game isn’t as easy as Wade and LeBron James are making it look, and the Mavericks refuse to admit they might just be facing a superior foe.